Snow Joke

We had a visit from Mulcahy and Viney, an agency, last week. Obviously, they were interested in books that they will be able to sell. This is another level that I am not even thinking about at the moment. Not only are we meant to put words on the page, they must be brilliant and they must be widely appealing.

They talked about having a small story within a big story. Something to discuss, a big issue! I've got none of this. I'm just plodding away still. I have avoided thinking this way so far. Perhaps I can crowbar something into my story, if I knew what the big issues were. Oh dear.

Trevor Byrne and Evie Wyld

We went to a reading last week with Evie Wyld and Trevor Byrne. I hadn't read their books but the extracts they read out sounded good so I will seek them out later. The following day we had a workshop with them. They were very generous in describing their experiences as writers, very open and honest. It was nice to hear that everyone has bad days, and everyone can feel daunted by the enormity of it all sometimes.

To plan or not to plan

I was feeling a bit swamped by my dreary scenery and thought about taking my characters on holiday but realised that is just another kind of story all together. I put them on the bus instead. So poor them, they are stuck in rainy Manchester still. They didn't enjoy the ride.

Not sure if I should have more of a plan to the story. It keeps going off a bit in different directions but will any of these directions arrive at a destination all just keep circling around and around? Then again I don't want to be tied to something that seems immovable. It's an interesting process.

Oh and my nine year olds story was compared to Jane Austen at parents evening the other night. Don't really know what to say about that really, as I struggle to make anything sound vaguely believable.

Is this cheating?

I have gone on the internet and used the faces of strangers for some of my characters. This might be cheating but at least I can picture them a bit more clearly. It is working as a starting point anyway. I though this was a cunning plan instead of basing them on people I know.

My villian was too obvious, he wasn't twisting his waxed moustache but it was close to that. I don't want more of a rounded character. So I've modelled him on Steven Merchant. Now I like him too much, I'm not sure he's scary at all. Oh dear. Steven Merchant why do you have to be so likeable?

Spooky

Walking through graveyards. Manchester rain. Decaying leaves. Halloween. What could be better inspiration? Children of Manchester you are beautiful.

Just started my Madame Bovary essay. Found lots of layers. I would be happy with just one good layer in my novel. Flaubert makes a good fluffy jam and cream sponge of a novel. I've got a flat sponge so far, but things are progressing.

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong to take the children for a walk by the river? No? What about when you're writing a story about a nutter dumping bodies in the river? Alright, probably. They liked the horse, and anyway, got some good pictures of sludge and slime. We even came across our very own nutter so it was an all round success! Lovely research. The nutter was averted by the way.

Last night we went to a reading with Seamus Heaney. He likes bogs and sludge too doesn't he? Should have asked him to come on my next trip out.

Week 1

We had the introductory week of the course. Met lots of nice people and felt better. It was all a bit like the scene in Good Fellas when they have the wedding and it is all a bit of a blur. One because first days are scary. Two because theres lots to take in and people to meet and three because I had a bit of a cold and was a bit spaced out.

After we found out about the course, we went to listen to Howard Jacobson talking about Kalooki Nights for the Guardian Bookclub. He was really entertaining and interesting. If you fancy listening to it apparantly there's a pod cast.

I have read Madame Bovary and I have done some writing. I didn't volunteer my work for the first critique but the other brave souls that did will be getting their work critisised on Monday by the group. Looking forward to this course now.

I've registered for my MA, had all the information now so will be officially starting in 3 weeks. I've been doing a bit of writing but need to get into the everyday habit again.

I have been watching 'tales of the unexpected', why isn't there anything like that on t.v. now? Don't say because its pants. There are loads of good short stories out there, waiting for someone to turn them into a t.v. series. Dah dah dahhhh de de de dahhhhhhh dahhhh de de dah de de de dahhhh dahhhh.

Sad news that Beryl Bainbridge has died today. I have only read 'Master Georgie', I would like to read 'Harriet Said'. I guess a lot of people will be re visiting her work now.

Our England flags were handmade by an eager bright eyed five year old. He coloured them in with his new felt tip pens and hung them lovingly in our living room. They are now scrunched up in the bin. Feel bad, feel very bad. Boooo.

Rest

It is starting to feel summery (ok so this is Tatton Park but lets pretend it is sunny Stockport). I was feeling bad because I haven't been writing a great deal, I've been reading and thinking instead. The last short story I wrote I wasn't very happy with but I think on reflection all I needed was to change one of the characters and it might save it. I feel interested in it again now, I think it just needed to rest on the hard drive for a while, it is ready to be woken up again.

Anyway as the flowers have started to bloom and the sun to shine I have taken up the pen again and started to write some things down. I have had a few more ideas lately and once you start writing them down you just seem to get more and more. I think it is about opening your mind up and seeing the world again. When I'm painting I start to look at things and see colours and shapes there. Writing is simular, once you are doing it you see things that would have passed you by before. Hopefully I will get a few more stories finished, I've got some new ideas anyway which is always exciting.

Here is some blue sky in an attempt to ward off the snow. No thanks, move along, more sun please.

I have enjoyed the sensory aspects to Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne. I noticed an appreciation of colour in her writing. I was not surprised to read that she was also a painter. The use of sensory aspects can elevate a story to a new level.

Just finished reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. Aspects of it reminded me of Great Expectations. I wonder whether this was intentional. It reminded me how everything around us subconsciously influences us in some way.

I have got a place on the Creative Writing MA starting in September. All I can say is yeah and yikes.

Evolution

I have been actually putting words on paper, my river story is evolving slowly but surely. I have found writing on paper has helped. Sometimes when you commit to the computer it feels too final. I've found I don't mind experimenting a bit on paper. Although the downside to this is that I've got loads of bits of the story all over the place, might have to transer it to the screen next.

A bit of flash fiction 'Bumper Crop' is up at the Pygmy Giant site.

http://thepygmygiant.wordpress.com:80/

I have a short piece called 'White' that is now at Lit Up Magazine. Click on the sidebar for a look.

Some writers can make a simple idea engaging and interesting. Sometimes less is more. I have to make sure that I don't overcomplicate things with too much description. It can be hard to get the balance right. Every story you write brings you a bit closer.

My flash fiction 'Needing the Crew' is on MiCrow Winter. Click on the link on the sidebar to read it.

Dark

I have written some darker flash fiction lately. Must be because I've got a cold, or it's winter. My dark side is coming out. It made me wonder how people sustain a certain mood or feel throughout a novel, thinking about it they probably don't.

Read and drink more

Last year my new years resolution was to drink more, I felt that with this I was not doomed to failure. This year to read more. Set realistic goals. Be happy, be lazy. Exercise is not good for you, I pulled my shoulder last week pretending to be healthy. Reading wins, it doesn't hurt, (unless the book makes you blub a bit).

Just read Last night In Twisted River. John Irving is brilliant, I've liked him for years. I leant A Prayer for Owen Meaney, to my Gran when she was in hospital a few years ago. All the doctors and nurses kept saying 'Oh, I've read that book, I love it' and really talking to her. She became transformed from an 80 year old to a person with simular interests to theirs. It is one of those moments when books are great.

When you have read a John Irving book you feel like you have experienced an entire life. His characters have got such great backstories. Reading this book I felt like putting it down all the time and saying 'listen to this bit' all the time to anyone passing. There are images that keep recurring through the story and he brings it all together masterfully. After spending a few happy hours on the sofa sipping wine with this book you feel like he's taken you on a journey through someone elses world. Apparantly he writes the last sentances of his novels first, then he works it out backwards from there, so he always knows where his novels are heading. He was in London last year, I wanted to go and hear him talk but I couldn't make it, come back again Mr. Irving, come to Manchester next time please! There is a bit on his website http://john-irving.com/ where he talks about the novel and some of the processes (it's too short though, more please). Apparently his favourite writer is Herman Melville, to my shame I have not read Moby Dick. When I had a look at the website I realised there is another John Irving book that I haven't read, hurrah.

Before then I read The Bird Room by Chris Killen, he is Manchester based and I saw his blog on the Manchizzle site which is what chose me to get it. It is his first novel. Compared to John Irving this book is more like a snapshot of someones life. He takes us right into the mind of the narrator. I liked the vulnerability and his unease with himself and the world around him. The unsaid feelings that are under the surface. Very readable.

Just finished The Coma by Alex Garland today, his Dad his illustrated the book with his woodcuts which I thought was pretty nice. I didn't know that Alex Garland wrote a book called 28 Days Later. I wonder if this is what they based the film on. If it is I think I should read it.

What I've Been Reading

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Kalooki Nights - Howard Jacobson
Vladimir Nabokov - Mary
Carry me Down, M. J Hyland - really loved this.
Eric Ambler - Epitaph for a spy
The Tent - Margaret Atwood
Joe Brand - Autobiography
We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson - really liked this.
Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell (great)
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafron - (Enjoyed this)
Brokeback Mountain and other stories - Annie Proux (good stuff)
Brixton Beach - Roma Tearne
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (Interesting way to have an omniscient narrator that can also talk in first person. Better than the film)
Exit Music - Ian Rankin (Accidentally read the final Rebus novel first, whoops)
Girl from the South - Joanna Trollope (yuk, no comment)
Love in The Present Tense - Catherine Ryan Hyde - (Enjoyed this, good example how to do an engaging shifting first person narrative)
Suite Fancaise - Irene Nemirovsky - (great story about how individuals cope under extreme circumstances)
John Irving - Last Night In Twisted River (I heart John Irving)
Alex Garland - The Coma - (is he awake or asleep? Liked the illustrations)
Chris Killen - The Bird Room - (Sad,vulnerable and interesting, enjoyed it)
Yvette Weiss - A passage through time - (terrible terrible, what a stinker)

For Every Year

Happy new year! If you haven't visited 'For Every Year' http://foreveryyear.blogspot.com/2010/01/1521-co-sue-gee.html it is a site by Crispin Best. The site is trying to get story contributions for every year since 1400. Mine is up now it is called 'Martin Luther'.